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Ex vivo cytokine responses against parvovirus B19 antigens in previously infected pregnant women
Author(s) -
Corcoran Amanda,
Mahon Bernard P.,
McParland Peter,
Davoren Anne,
Doyle Sean
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.10420
Subject(s) - parvovirus , ex vivo , immune system , immunology , fetus , cytokine , antigen , biology , in vivo , parvoviridae , pregnancy , medicine , virus , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology
Parvovirus B19 infection is a significant cause of fetal death. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of maternal immune status in modulating susceptibility to fetal B19 infection. Peripheral blood was obtained from pregnant women (n = 199) with no clinical evidence of recent B19 infection. Evaluation of ex vivo T cell responses from 149/199 individuals showed significantly higher interferon‐γ levels for seropositive individuals following VP1 (268 ± 36 versus 103 ± 19 pg/ml; P = 0.003) and VP2 (242 ± 42 versus 91 ± 16 pg/ml; P = 0.01) antigen stimulation. Significantly higher levels of interleukin‐2 were also observed in seropositive individuals following both VP1 ( P = 0.0003) and VP2 ( P = 0.0005) stimulation. The observed Th1 cellular response is lower than that documented previously for non‐pregnant individuals and strongly suggests that diminution of the maternal anti‐viral immune response may increase susceptibility to fetal B19 infection. J. Med. Virol. 70:475–480, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.